Hello, hello, hello!
I feel like I’ve been away for forever!
And I think I have!
But, I really missed you guys so I decided to come back.
So recently I became a Mentor to amazing young people with learning differences, and that
could include dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia.
So basically my job is just to give like support to college or sixth form students that are
looking to make the transition from college to university and I’m there to you know,
help you help yourselves basically, and that’s what my video’s going to be about today,
it’s only going to be a couple of minutes because I don’t want to bore you guys but
I just wanted to set the record straight.
I have a lot of people asking me, “Can people with learning differences,” not learning
disabilities, because we don’t call it a disability, it’s a difference, “can people
with learning differences still go to university?”
Of course you can!
C’mon!
I have severe dyslexia and the way it affects me is that sometimes when I speak, I find
it hard to get the words out, or for instance, when I write or when I read, words look jumbled
up and just crazy to me, or, say if we’re both in class and the teacher’s said something,
you might get it straight away whereas I’ll probably get it within an hour or so.
And that’s how my dyslexia affects me and I learnt different tools in which to support
myself, and you know, go through university life and you guys can definitely do the same.
With every single university, there will always be a department in which where you can go
to, and they will offer you support.
This may be done in different ways, from mentoring, to academic support, to tutoring, you know,
just helping you around campus.
I know for especially with Kingston we have all of those things and more.
Anyone with a difference can go to university and I just really wanted to make that clear,
is that just because you have a difference doesn’t mean that you won’t be allowed
to go to university and you won’t get the support.
I know definitely, if you make it clear that you want support, there are loads of things
that you can get, especially things like DSA which is a Disability Student Allowance and
it’s basically where they assess you and they give you stuff and give you support based
on your needs and stuff like that is really important and I’d definitely say that if
you know you have a learning difference, I’d definitely say look at the different ways
of getting support, which may be in equipment or just physical support or technical support,
learning to use different software, find all the resources you can and use them to your
ability and definitely like, I say, be open about it to an extent, you know, talk to teachers,
ask them if there are special like classes you can go to, to learn different skills,
but definitely don’t feel like, because you’ve got a difference, you can’t go
to university and you can’t be what you want.
I have obviously severe dyslexia, I’m in my final year and you know what?
I think I’m on task to get a 2:1, so basically my tip, after this long ramble, is basically
just do your research.
Every single person, this is a fact, every single person that has a learning difference
can go to university.
It’s just about doing your research and looking for the different resources that are
out there for you, even Postgraduate students, which I just found out can get support with,
you know, if they’re doing their Masters and they’ve got a learning difference.
So do your research, ask as many questions as possible look at different and various
ways to gain support, and ask Indie on Ask Us, millions and millions of questions!
So don’t forget guys if you ask me a question I will answer it.
Please forgive me if I take a couple of days, I don’t mean to, but I will definitely answer
your question as soon as possible.
There is no such thing as a stupid question.
Ok?
Just ask away and I’m here to help.
So I’m going to say goodbye!
Have a fabulous day!
Indie is out!